Drapers Fan History
Passers by will have noticed that Drapers Mill is sporting a smart new colour scheme on its Fantail. The Fantail is like a small windmill and does the vital job of keeping the Old Mill’s cap and sweeps (sails) always pointing into the wind. The Fantail was the first part of the mill’s mechanism that was restored to working order by Drapers Windmill Trust back in 1971. The work was carried out by local bank clerk turned millwright Vincent Pargeter. After working hard in all weathers for over half a century, the time had come for the wooden blades of the fan to be replaced. Working closely with former KCC’s Conservation Officer, Luke Bonwick and millwright Paul Kemp, the Trust researched the archive to ensure that the Fantail was faithfully restored to its 19th century appearance. Archive photographs reveal that the Fantail Blades were once brightly painted, with their spokes and edges picked out in colour, rather than the plain white that they had been since 1971.Further research suggests that the mill’s owner at the time, Thomas Messiter Ind, ordered the decoration to mark Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897.
Trust Chair, Robin Colyer, said “This year is the 60th Anniversary of the foundation of Draper’s Windmill Trust – so it is fitting that the Red, White and Blue colours should reappear to mark our own Diamond Jubilee.”
The new blades were made by Paul Kemp in his Suffolk workshop and have recently been fitted by millwright Cam Southcott, assisted by volunteers as part of a programme to overhaul the sweeps and cap.
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Drapers Windmill Trust supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund
The trust is very grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund for their kind support for our windmill in 2018. They have enabled us, amongst other things, to commission a film about the windmill and its history, so that those who are less able to climb the stairs can still enjoy the windmill to its full capacity.
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The Crossley Gas Engine
In a shed at the rear of the windmill sits our 1920 Crossley gas engine, installed to enable the mill to operate without the need for wind. It celebrates its 104th birthday this year.
The Crossley Brothers gas engine, a Type GE117, was originally outshopped from their Openshaw works, in Manchester on 24 April 1920. An order was originally received from the well-known hairbrush manufacturer, Messrs Mason Pearson Brothers, whose works were at Royal Victor Place in Old Ford, East London.
It is rated at 28hp/31bhp and fitted with a 6ft 6in flywheel. The engine has an all-up weight of 4 tons, engine erectors from Crossley's London showrooms and workshops installed the engine into the specially prepared engine room. It was connected to the local town's gas supply. This engine then drove the factory shafting to the woodworking machinery on the belt. Over the years, it was fitted with two sets of cylinder liners and pistons and a set of new piston rings in the early 1960s.
Sometime later, it was removed from the works and put into store in London. In 1997 it was acquired by the Drapers Windmill Trust and installed by experts into the engine room, where today it can be seen running sweetly and is greatly admired.
It should be noted that Mason Pearson are still trading today, manufacturing high-quality hairbrushes as well as other hair products, with a shop in Old Bond Street, London, as well as other outlets worldwide. Their factory today is in Rainham, Essex, and they are in their 138th year of manufacturing. They attended the 100th anniversary of their old Crossley gas engine.
Tim Keenan, April 2020